The primary goal of this proposal is to establish Baroreflex Sensitivity (BRS) as a biomarker for acute postoperative pain (POP) and the likelihood of persistent postoperative pain (PPP) at the 3 month postoperative timepoint in patients undergoing video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Our central hypothesis is that preoperative BRS is inversely associated with the magnitude and duration of POP during postoperative days 0-2 and the likelihood of PPP at 3 months throughout the postoperative observation by influencing nociceptive processing and surgically-induced inflammation. If this central hypothesis is confirmed then future interventional studies designed to enhance BRS will be developed with the goal of optimizing perioperative outcomes.